Claire sat quietly by the seaside, her hands gently caressing her now flat belly. Her eyes, red from sleepless nights, reflected the calm ocean stretching endlessly before her.
The waves lapped gently at the shore, but her heart was anything but calm.
She pressed her trembling fingers to the pendant hanging from her neck—the last piece of Danny she had left.
Tears welled up again as she whispered into the salty breeze,
"You promised… you'd come back…"
Grief wrapped around her chest like an unrelenting iron band, tightening with every breath.
She had felt his life vanish in that final blinding flash of light, a pain more unbearable than death itself.
Yet… beneath the sorrow, a tiny spark of warmth remained.
A whisper in her heart.
"He kept his promise… the chains are broken."
But why did freedom feel so empty without him by her side?
The ocean before her no longer looked like a sea—it felt like a vast, sleeping beast, calm for now but hiding endless storms in its depths.
The sky above stretched endlessly, no longer cracked or bleeding, but painted in a hue of unsettling peace… as if the universe itself mourned alongside her.
And far on the horizon, where the sea kissed the sky, a faint golden shimmer appeared—like the last heartbeat of a dying star… or the first breath of a new god.
Just as she stood to leave, the wind shifted.
A familiar warmth brushed against her cheek—a hand that wasn't there… yet she felt it.
From the horizon, a voice echoed faintly.
"Claire… I found a way back…"
She spun around, eyes wide, but the beach was empty.
Or was it?
At her feet lay a single, perfectly unbroken chain—its links glowing faintly with a golden light.
And wrapped around it… a small, blooming white flower.
🎬 [End of Chapter 27 – Is This the End… Or the Beginning?]